❓ Hon Ed Dermer questions the Minister for Mental Health about the draft mental health bill 2011, specifically regarding the replacement of the Council of Official Visitors with mental health advocates and the potential loss of inspection powers. The Minister responds by explaining the rationale behind the name change and clarifying the roles and responsibilities related to facility inspections.
AnsweredQoN 170Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
COUNCIL OF
OFFICIAL VISITORS — RENAMING
170. Hon ED DERMER to the Minister for Mental Health:
I am very pleased that the Minister
for Mental Health is welcoming questions today because I have a question
without notice for her. I refer to the draft mental health bill 2011, which
will replace the Council of Official Visitors with mental health advocates who
will have the right to advocate on behalf of mental patients but will not have
the powers of inspection of psychiatric hospitals and hostels.
Hon Helen Morton : I am sorry, but I missed that. Someone
coughed and I could not hear you.
The PRESIDENT : Order, members! It is difficult when
questions without notice are being asked. Can Hon Ed Dermer start from the top?
Hon ED DERMER : I will, and I will reduce the pace. I refer to the draft mental health bill 2011, which will replace the Council of
Official Visitors with mental health advocates who will have the right to
advocate on behalf of mental patients but who will not have the powers of
inspection of psychiatric hospitals and hostels. Given the many public
submissions objecting to the withdrawal of this function, will the minister
give a guarantee to the house that these powers will be reinstated; and, if the
minister will not give such a guarantee, why not?
OFFICIAL VISITORS — RENAMING
170. Hon ED DERMER to the Minister for Mental Health:
I am very pleased that the Minister
for Mental Health is welcoming questions today because I have a question
without notice for her. I refer to the draft mental health bill 2011, which
will replace the Council of Official Visitors with mental health advocates who
will have the right to advocate on behalf of mental patients but will not have
the powers of inspection of psychiatric hospitals and hostels.
Hon Helen Morton : I am sorry, but I missed that. Someone
coughed and I could not hear you.
The PRESIDENT : Order, members! It is difficult when
questions without notice are being asked. Can Hon Ed Dermer start from the top?
Hon ED DERMER : I will, and I will reduce the pace. I refer to the draft mental health bill 2011, which will replace the Council of
Official Visitors with mental health advocates who will have the right to
advocate on behalf of mental patients but who will not have the powers of
inspection of psychiatric hospitals and hostels. Given the many public
submissions objecting to the withdrawal of this function, will the minister
give a guarantee to the house that these powers will be reinstated; and, if the
minister will not give such a guarantee, why not?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank Hon Ed Dermer for the question and for repeating it, because I
did miss a critical part of it. This seems to be a little like a committee
discussion, but without the bill in front of me. However, I am pleased to once
again have the opportunity to talk about this draft bill.
I have obviously met with the Council
of Official Visitors on a number of occasions. I meet with the council
regularly, particularly the head of the council, Debora Colvin, who is a
fantastic operator in that position. The reason that the name of the Council of
Official Visitors will be changed to the mental health advocacy service is that
no-one on the street knows what the Council of Official Visitors is, but they
would have an immediate understanding of a mental health advocacy service. The
change of name is particularly important. It was recommended by a lot of
people, and I do not think the council has a concern about that either.
Regarding the issue around
inspection of the facilities and the fact that the council does not have people
employed who are qualified inspectors of facilities, we do not want people
assuming that the council can go into a facility and assume that it knows how
to inspect a facility. There are another two bodies with some responsibility
for inspection of facilities for appropriateness. Through the standards licensing
process they inspect facilities to ensure, for example, that facilities are
engineered appropriately or have the right fire extinguishers in place; I
cannot go through all the things that they inspect before they license a
facility. The Chief Psychiatrist also has a role in inspection of facilities.
We heard that previously we were not
able to authorise the Rockingham facility for a month or two because the fence
was not high enough for the security of the patients, and that was on the basis
of the assessment done by the Chief Psychiatrist. Therefore, there are two
bodies required to have people who are qualified in inspecting facilities. I
have made it clear to the Council of Official Visitors, through the head,
Debora Colvin, about the inspection role it provides in being able to go into a
bathroom, for example, to see if mould is growing on the tiles or to go into a
kitchen to see whether the air conditioning is working or to see whether there
is a window broken that should have been fixed six weeks ago—things
that anyone would be quite capable of observing; they are the sorts of
inspections and facility issues that the council is involved with. I believe it
is able to do that under the definition of what it is able to do in advocating
for the people of a mental health facility. However, I also indicated to the
head of the Council of Official Visitors that if in fact things need to be
tweaked a little bit to make it absolutely clear, I am not averse to doing
that.
did miss a critical part of it. This seems to be a little like a committee
discussion, but without the bill in front of me. However, I am pleased to once
again have the opportunity to talk about this draft bill.
I have obviously met with the Council
of Official Visitors on a number of occasions. I meet with the council
regularly, particularly the head of the council, Debora Colvin, who is a
fantastic operator in that position. The reason that the name of the Council of
Official Visitors will be changed to the mental health advocacy service is that
no-one on the street knows what the Council of Official Visitors is, but they
would have an immediate understanding of a mental health advocacy service. The
change of name is particularly important. It was recommended by a lot of
people, and I do not think the council has a concern about that either.
Regarding the issue around
inspection of the facilities and the fact that the council does not have people
employed who are qualified inspectors of facilities, we do not want people
assuming that the council can go into a facility and assume that it knows how
to inspect a facility. There are another two bodies with some responsibility
for inspection of facilities for appropriateness. Through the standards licensing
process they inspect facilities to ensure, for example, that facilities are
engineered appropriately or have the right fire extinguishers in place; I
cannot go through all the things that they inspect before they license a
facility. The Chief Psychiatrist also has a role in inspection of facilities.
We heard that previously we were not
able to authorise the Rockingham facility for a month or two because the fence
was not high enough for the security of the patients, and that was on the basis
of the assessment done by the Chief Psychiatrist. Therefore, there are two
bodies required to have people who are qualified in inspecting facilities. I
have made it clear to the Council of Official Visitors, through the head,
Debora Colvin, about the inspection role it provides in being able to go into a
bathroom, for example, to see if mould is growing on the tiles or to go into a
kitchen to see whether the air conditioning is working or to see whether there
is a window broken that should have been fixed six weeks ago—things
that anyone would be quite capable of observing; they are the sorts of
inspections and facility issues that the council is involved with. I believe it
is able to do that under the definition of what it is able to do in advocating
for the people of a mental health facility. However, I also indicated to the
head of the Council of Official Visitors that if in fact things need to be
tweaked a little bit to make it absolutely clear, I am not averse to doing
that.
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